Tuesday, 27 March 2012

n.
1. A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break.
2. (Linguistics).. slight pause that occurs when two immediately adjacent vowels in consecutive syllables are pronounced, as in reality and naive.
3. (Anatomy).. a separation, aperture, fissure, or short passage in an organ or body part.

Saturday, 24 March 2012

n.
1. Biology A close, prolonged association between two or more different organisms of different species that may, but does not necessarily, benefit each member.
2. A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

[Greek sumbisis, companionship, from sumbioun, to live together, from sumbios, living together : sun-, syn- + bios, life; see gwei- in Indo-European roots.]

Friday, 23 March 2012

..so I have been classed as Art Brut or the English equilivant, Outsider Art. The reasoning is that I work in the style of an assemblage artist in a Bricolage kind of way. I have now looked up and started to read into the Art Brut/Outsider Art scene and the first paragraph speaks of

a. psychological
b. criminal
c. un(der)developed
d. anachronism
e. pertaining to one or more of the above

I'm just wandering what it was meant when this label was placed upon me. My work is very brutal in a Bricolage way but...need more information.

n.
1. The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.
2. One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time.

[French anachronisme, from New Latin anachronismus, from Late Greek anakhronismos, from anakhronizesthai, to be an anachronism : Greek ana-, ana- + Greek khronizein, to take time (from khronos, time).]

It will be almost a month since you wrote to me and you have possibly forgotten your state of mind (I doubt it though). You seem the same as always, and being you, hate every minute of it. Don’t! Learn to say “Fuck You” to the world once in a while. You have every right to. Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, grasping, confusing, itchin, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, numbling, rumbling, gambling, tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning, horse-shitting, hair-splitting, nit-picking, piss-trickling, nose sticking, ass-gouging, eyeball-poking, finger-pointing, alleyway-sneaking, long waiting, small stepping, evil-eyeing, back-scratching, searching, perching, besmirching, grinding, grinding, grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just DO!

From your description, and from what I know of your previous work and you [sic] ability; the work you are doing sounds very good “Drawing-clean-clear but crazy like machines, larger and bolder… real nonsense.” That sounds fine, wonderful – real nonsense. Do more. More nonsensical, more crazy, more machines, more breasts, penises, cunts, whatever – make them abound with nonsense. Try and tickle something inside you, your “weird humor.” You belong in the most secret part of you. Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you – draw & paint your fear and anxiety. And stop worrying about big, deep things such as “to decide on a purpose and way of life, a consistant [sic] approach to even some impossible end or even an imagined end” You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO!

I have much confidence in you and even though you are tormenting yourself, the work you do is very good. Try to do some BAD work – the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell – you are not responsible for the world – you are only responsible for your work – so DO IT. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any preconceived form, idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be. But if life would be easier for you if you stopped working – then stop. Don’t punish yourself. However, I think that it is so deeply engrained in you that it would be easier to DO!

It seems I do understand your attitude somewhat, anyway, because I go through a similar process every so often. I have an “Agonizing Reappraisal” of my work and change everything as much as possible = and hate everything I’ve done, and try to do something entirely different and better. Maybe that kind of process is necessary to me, pushing me on and on. The feeling that I can do better than that shit I just did. Maybe you need your agony to accomplish what you do. And maybe it goads you on to do better. But it is very painful I know. It would be better if you had the confidence just to do the stuff and not even think about it. Can’t you leave the “world” and “ART” alone and also quit fondling your ego. I know that you (or anyone) can only work so much and the rest of the time you are left with your thoughts. But when you work or before your work you have to empty you [sic] mind and concentrate on what you are doing. After you do something it is done and that’s that. After a while you can see some are better than others but also you can see what direction you are going. I’m sure you know all that. You also must know that you don’t have to justify your work – not even to yourself. Well, you know I admire your work greatly and can’t understand why you are so bothered by it. But you can see the next ones and I can’t. You also must believe in your ability. I think you do. So try the most outrageous things you can – shock yourself. You have at your power the ability to do anything.

I would like to see your work and will have to be content to wait until Aug or Sept. I have seen photos of some of Tom’s new things at Lucy’s. They are impressive – especially the ones with the more rigorous form: the simpler ones. I guess he’ll send some more later on. Let me know how the shows are going and that kind of stuff.

My work had changed since you left and it is much better. I will be having a show May 4 -9 at the Daniels Gallery 17 E 64yh St (where Emmerich was), I wish you could be there. Much love to you both.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

adj.
1.
a. Relying on or derived from observation or experiment: empirical results that supported the hypothesis.
b. Verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment: empirical laws.
2. Guided by practical experience and not theory, especially in medicine.
3. Philosophy:
a. (of knowledge) derived from experience rather than by logic from first principles
b. (of a proposition) subject, at least theoretically, to verification

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

My lino cutting technique is becoming more evident at the moment. I am using a more defined gouging tecnique when I am cutting into the lino and having actual hard data to use when designing the initial cut id a huge help.

Sunday, 18 March 2012

I am going to see this film tomorrow night and quite looking forward to the event. I like the whole Cornerhouse set up as a movie theatre. It is very cosy and twee and should be a fun night

=================================================

Bill Cunningham New York
12A
Richard Press

New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham has, for decades, been riding around the city on his bike obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society soirées in his columns ‘On the Street’ and ‘Evening Hours’.

Regarded by the fashion elite as a true cultural anthropologist, this endearing film follows Bill as he documents uptown fixtures – from Vogue’s Anna Wintour, to philanthropist David Rockefeller, and iconic socialite Brooke Astor – downtown eccentrics and everyone in between. Cunningham’s enormous body of work is more reliable than any catwalk as an expression of time, place and individual flair and this delicate documentary is a funny and poignant portrait of a dedicated artist whose only wealth is his own humanity and unassuming grace.

Saturday, 17 March 2012

As I have a block of red clay to play with and so it won't get wasted, a new sidelined project needs to be created. I am interested in art of pre-history and in particular, the fetishes that are found such as this badly taken photograph. I am intrigued in the Mother figure such as Gaia and the death fetishes of early civilizations. This mini project won't last the week but I think it will be conducive with my practise and allow me the thinking time to sort out glitches that are manifesting at the moment.

We had to prepare and present a 2 minute presentation regarding our art practise and what we will be doing for the degree exhibition in June. It was hard to portray what I would be doing for the next 3 months in a 2 minute presentaion but It had to be done. I was given some good questions to answer and some ideas to mull over.

n.
1. One that expounds or interprets.
2. One that speaks for, represents, or advocates: Our senator is an exponent of free trade.
3. Abbr. exp Mathematics A number or symbol, as 3 in (x + y)3, placed to the right of and above another number, symbol, or expression, denoting the power to which that number, symbol, or expression is to be raised. Also called power.

n.
1. The art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments.
2.
a. The process especially associated with Hegel of arriving at the truth by stating a thesis, developing a contradictory antithesis, and combining and resolving them into a coherent synthesis.
b. Hegel's critical method for the investigation of this process.
3.
a. The Marxian process of change through the conflict of opposing forces, whereby a given contradiction is characterized by a primary and a secondary aspect, the secondary succumbing to the primary, which is then transformed into an aspect of a new contradiction. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb.
b. The Marxian critique of this process.
4. dialectics (used with a sing. verb) A method of argument or exposition that systematically weighs contradictory facts or ideas with a view to the resolution of their real or apparent contradictions.
5. The contradiction between two conflicting forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction.

[Middle English dialetik, from Old French dialetique, from Latin dialectica, logic, from Greek dialektik (tekhn), (art) of debate, feminine of dialektikos, from dialektos, speech, conversation; see dialect.]

n. pl. at·ro·phies
1. Pathology A wasting or decrease in size of a body organ, tissue, or part owing to disease, injury, or lack of use: muscular atrophy of a person affected with paralysis.
2. A wasting away, deterioration, or diminution: intellectual atrophy.

I am interested in the patternation and timbre of the pavements and roads that are evident within the urban environment. Workmen come and slice up the roadsides just like surgeons and create scars upon the surfaces. These scars are not unlike real-life collages that have their own colour schemes and what I am going to highlight with my next project is the potential for spatial collage using materials such as wood and metal. I would like to use cement and asphalt but I don't think I have the know how to use such material. Tarmac has such vivid connotations such as the smell and the heat and this creates such an emotive response.

I am already looking into the Mark Boyle Foundation/Family and their collages but the work by Ben Nicholson and Diebenkorn are such important and influential factors within my reasoning.

This is the second installment of the Bernard/Barker lino-print collaboration. The same rules applied with this design as did with the last..Keiran did the initial design and I added to the final outcome. I am the guy who decides on what inks to use and who prints the copy.

n.
1. The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others. The state or quality of being tolerant
2.
a. Leeway for variation from a standard.
b. The permissible deviation from a specified value of a structural dimension, often expressed as a percent.
3. The capacity to endure hardship or pain.
4. Medicine
a. Physiological resistance to a toxin.
b. Diminution in the physiological response to a drug that occurs after continued use, necessitating larger doses to produce a given response.
5.
a. Acceptance of a tissue graft or transplant without immunological rejection.
b. Unresponsiveness to an antigen that normally produces an immunological reaction.
6. The ability of an organism to resist or survive infection by a parasitic or pathogenic organism.

Sunday, 11 March 2012

Just got a Facebook invite to the next Malgras/Naudet art show on Chapeltown Street, Manchester. It is a little gallery space that is situated behind Piccadilly Train Station which I have only been to a couple of times.

This show involves the paintings of Parkinson and Ryan and are quite abstract and painterly in Ryan's case and very constructivist/de Stilj in Parkinson's case. I am interested in both styles of painting so in fact kind of looking forward to this show.

Apologies to Kevin Ryan and the posting of another artist named Kevin Ryan....the description is still very apt though in Ryan's case and has a very tactile and guttural aspect to them.

New print using a gradient effect with two inks that eventually bled into a mu

New print using a gradient effect with two inks that eventually bled into a murky brown.. Final project presentation is due next Friday and the time allocated for each presentation is two minutes. After that, the work will have to begin on this project and I'll need to tie up this lino project,

n.
1. A sudden, short utterance; an ejaculation.
2. Abbr. interj. or int.
a. The part of speech that usually expresses emotion and is capable of standing alone.
b. Any of the words belonging to this part of speech, such as Ugh! or Wow!

Thursday, 8 March 2012

This was taken from the banks of the river that runs through the Trough of Bowland in Lancashire. I think the tree is very enigmatic and will lend it self to the lino print process..there are defined lines and should have a good impact.

On Monday morning after a few days off from Uni I found a piece of unprinted lino that had a design already gouged into. After searching for the person who left it on my desk I asked him if I could add to the design and after defining the line a bit more and adding the element of a barbed wire across the central portion I decided to print it off.

I used red to illustrate the subject matter and I think it is a good quality piece of work. It is one of my first collaborative projects and Kieren Bernard (whom the artist I have worked with) and I are quite happy with the result. I have to point out that this was printed before the blue prints below and prompted my latest forray in lino print, somewhat.

I am really happy with the results from todays lino affair. I selected, traced and then drwan the image onto the lino and carefully scooped out the bits that needed to be gouged away. In the end I have a defined print of a set of Silver Birch trees. These are my favourite sub species of tree and tomorrow, I will work on the next lino print.

I need to get a grip upon my latest obsession with lino print and the tree, I have been doing the rounds with these now since the beginning of the year and I haven't progressed really with the project.

There have been some good results I suppose but with being told that my cutting technique is too clean and OCD, the alarm bells started to sound again. I was given some feedback and it went to the point that I should be doing screenprinting instead. I like the process of gouging and pressing too much and think that the screenprinting elements are too manufactured. Its like doing piece work to me, do a print and move on..ad nauseum. Although, the process should be used just to see that I can do it and to have the relevant skills.

These photographs are potenial design elements that I may introduce to the lino print phase. I in particular like the anthromorphic aspects to one of them and the photographs are more defined within this grouping.

New Polaroid from the 484 camera that I bought in haste but didn't really need. I am considering selling this contraption as I want to buy another 100 film camera. I like the peel apart aspect to the film and it comes in sepia, silver and blue and best of all, quite cheap.

The fold-out Land Camera I bought from Spitalfield market down on Brick Lane, London is very tetchy and doesn't seem to give good results.

This 484 is refurbished to a point of being brand new and takes four photographs at once but I don't think I have much use for it. It looks pretty and the results are so-so but doesn't take one image per photographic plate.

What I have added to this posting is a one-off and un manipulated snap of the gap between two free standing monoliths that I had done awhile back. The results are quite enigmatic but not indicative of the potenial of the camera.

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

v.tr.
1. To strive to fend off or offset the actions, effects, or force of.
2. To remain firm against the actions, effects, or force of; withstand: a bacterium that resisted the antibiotic.
3. To keep from giving in to or enjoying.

v.intr.
To offer resistance.

n.
A substance that can cover and protect a surface, as from corrosion.

[Middle English resisten, from Old French resister, from Latin resistere : re-, re- + sistere, to place; see st- in Indo-European roots.]

As the only neon light company that I know that is located squarely within my reach in Manchester has now burnt down in a mysterious fire on Friday afternoon, I have been forced to find other companies that may or may not be able to make my signage for the degree show.

I want the phrase ..and then. to be made at about 5 inches tall and this in turn would be intergrated into my assemblage that I am designing.

I have researched into the differences in colour and gases and found that either Krypton or Argon should suffice. I like the white of Krypton and the blueness of Argon quite sublime. A relevant email has been sent to Parkinson's Sign in Blackburn and I await their response. It's only in the town centre so I'll pop in when I get the chance.

Saturday, 3 March 2012

in·ter·mis·sion [ˌɪntəˈmɪʃən)
n.
1. The act of intermitting or the state of being intermitted.
2. A respite or recess. A period between events or activities; pause.
3. The period between the acts of a theatrical or musical performance.

Friday, 2 March 2012

n. pl. truths
1. Conformity to fact or actuality.
2. A statement proven to be or accepted as true.
3. Sincerity; integrity.
4. Fidelity to an original or standard.
5.
a. Reality; actuality.
b. often Truth That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.

[Middle English trewthe, loyalty, from Old English trowth; see deru- in Indo-European roots.]